In 2015, there were nearly 113 million registered cars in the United States, mostly powered by gasoline. A pair of Illinois brothers is credited with building the first gas-powered automobile in American history.

Frank and Charles Duryea, who grew up near the Stark County town of Wyoming, drove their creation on the streets of Springfield, Massachusetts, on Sept. 21, 1893. Two years later, they won the first automobile race in the United States, a 54-mile run from Chicago to Evanston and back on Thanksgiving Day 1895.

Charles was born in Canton, Illinois, on Dec. 15, 1861, while Frank was born in Wyoming, where much of their childhood was spent, on Oct. 8, 1869. A local genealogical source reports that local teacher William Sandham was a source of great inspiration.

A biographer of Char

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